TEXARKANA — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Arkansas, Western), published as received.

TEXARKANA – A Texarkana, Arkansas, man was sentenced today to 30 years in prison, followed by lifetime supervised release, on one count of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor via Production of Child Pornography.  There is no parole in the federal system.  The Honorable Chief Judge Susan O. Hickey presided over the sentencing hearing in the U.S. District Court in Texarkana.

According to court documents, Michael Ray Beam, age 32, used the social media service Snapchat to induce a 13-year-old Texarkana, Arkansas, girl to send him nude images and videos of herself, amounting to child pornography under federal law.  The victim told authorities that Beam had left a “vape” device in her home mailbox in exchange for her sending him images and videos of herself engaging in specific sexual acts.  Using the Snapchat service, Beam had been able view the victim’s real-time physical location, at her Texarkana, Arkansas, residence.  Following Beam’s arrest on state charges, investigators obtained a warrant to search a smart phone found in his possession.  In Beam’s phone, investigators found multiple ‘screen capture’ video recordings of the child pornography he had received via Snapchat from the young victim.   

Beam was indicted by a Grand Jury sitting in the Western District of Arkansas in September 2021, and entered a plea of guilty in March 2022.   

U.S. Attorney David Clay Fowlkes of the Western District of Arkansas made the announcement.

The Miller County Sheriff’s Department, the Wake Village, Texas, Police Department, and the FBI investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Graham Jones prosecuted the case.

This case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.